“I was ripping this thing. I was getting after it,” he said Tuesday, via The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “… I had all the confidence in the world that my arm was as good as ever.”

And his March 1 setback? “A punch to the gut,” Sale said.

The lefty now faces a lengthy recovery. And even though he won’t take the mound in 2020 if and when the season begins, it’s probably a fair assumption that Sale will give it 110 percent to get back to full health.